COVID-19 Impact on Operation and Energy Consumption of Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) Systems

Abstract

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is favourable for regulating indoor temperature, relative humidity, airflow pattern and air quality. However, HVAC systems may turn out to be the culprit of microbial contamination in enclosed spaces and deteriorate the environment due to inappropriate design and operation. In the context of COVID-19, significant transformations and new requirements are occurring in HVAC systems. Recently, several updated operational guidelines for HVAC systems have been issued by various institutions to control the airborne transmission and mitigate infection risks in enclosed environments. Challenges and innovations emerge in response to operational variations of HVAC systems. To efficiently prevent the spread of the pandemic and reduce infection risks, it is essential to have an overall understanding of impacts caused by COVID-19 on HVAC systems. Therefore, the objectives of this article are to: (a) provide a comprehensive review of the airborne transmission characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 in enclosed spaces and a theoretical basis for HVAC operation guideline revision; (b) investigate HVAC-related guidelines to clarify the operational variations of HVAC systems during the pandemic; (c) analyse how operational variations of HVAC systems affect energy consumption; and (d) identify the innovations and research trends concerning future HVAC systems. Furthermore, this paper compares the energy consumption of HVAC system operation during the normal times versus pandemic period, based on a case study in China, providing a reference for other countries around the world. Results of this paper offer comprehensive insights into how to keep indoor environments safe while maintaining energy-efficient operation of HVAC systems.

Aged Care Energy Use and Peak Demand Change in the COVID-19 Year: Empirical Evidence from Australia

“…Air conditioning is often the largest energy user and a significant asset for healthcare and commercial or public buildings [50][51][52]. Critical evaluation of the two KPIs (kWh/bed/day and kWh/bed/CDD24) reveals that those healthcare buildings could become more responsive to the reduced needs of space cooling if those buildings are designed with more energy-efficient and resilient features, such as natural ventilation [53] and better operation strategies [54].…”

Designing Post COVID-19 Buildings: Approaches for Achieving Healthy Buildings

“…Other main parameters influencing the spread of virus include the indoor temperature and relative humidity. Many research studies have investigated the effects of the indoor temperature and relative humidity on COVID-19, and the results show that the right set-points are required to deactivate the virus [22,41,43,51]. The persistence of Corona virus can be influenced by both the temperature and humidity.…”

Comparison of Indoor Environment and Energy Consumption before and after Spread of COVID-19 in Schools in Japanese Cold-Climate Region

“…The society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan (SHASE) [5], as well as American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) [6] and Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations (REHVA) [7] published several documents on the use of buildings under the spread of COVID-19 infection, in which the importance of improving ventilation systems and increasing the ventilation rate is mentioned. Zehng et al [8], Pan et al [9], Elsaid et al [10], and Berry et al [11] refer to the above reports by ASHRAE, RHEVA, SHASE, etc., and clarify the problems of the current air conditioning systems and suggest possible countermeasures and future design methods. In cold-climate regions with severely cold winters, increasing the ventilation rate by opening windows in winter increases the heating load for ventilation.…”